breaking news right now, several people rushed to the hospital after flames ripped through a high rise aartment building. we're live. chaos on u street. gunshots rang out in the middle of the day. today police are sorting through bags of evidence. which candidate now has i sizable advantage. i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang for this wednesday, september 29th, 2010. it is 5:00 a.m. 61 degrees. much cooler morning. >> a nicer morning than kind of a muggy day yesterday. >> yeah. the dry air moved in. overnight it dried out. we have cleared out on this wednesday morning. it's an autumnal feel. right now in the mid-50s in

prince george's. only near 50 farther west and north in the mouains right now, temperatures are only in the 40s many locations. eastern shore, mid-60s. we have leading edge of more rain pushing southeast and virginia. that will move up by this afternoon. and temperatures should climb into the low 70s. moderate to heavy rain tonight and into tomorrow morning many likely we'll have flooding this time tomorrow morning. flooding rains likely thursday, ending thursday night. drying out friday into the weekend. tom, off we go. from the north country this morning, smooth sailing. very calm commute. just the way we le it along i-270 as we head from frederick to urbana, 118, germantown on down. no accidents or incidents to work about. travel lanes are open as well. let's head over to the wilson bridge, inner loop. oxen hill t alexander doing fine. moving along very nicely.

eun? >> jerry, thank you. this is happening right now on 16th street in e columbia heights neighborhood. tracee wilkins is on the scene with the latest. tracee, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, eun. i'm told by witnesses this was an incredibly graphic scene, violent scene for folks who saw whahappened to the people involved in the fire. i'm told before firefighters arrived on the scene people were out in front of the building who had been burned trying to escape the fire as well. so we're joined live now. fire chief here for district of columbia. tell me what happened. >> first of all, good morning. 3:45 d.c. fire department received a call for a building fire on 16th street nortest. first unit arrived within one minute. upon arrival, they had heavy

fire conditions from the fifth floor at which point they had numerous ladder rescues, people hanging from the windows. they went into rescue mo as well as going in to attack the fire. on the fifth floor, they found they had a fire out in the common area of the hallway making it even tougher for the occants abo the fifth floor to escape down the interior stairways. so we transported eight patients. we're evaluating 40 more who may need further transport to the hospital. ma sure you have a working smak detector, have two ways out of your house and a meeting point. >> at least oneerson jumped from the building. we're talkingt least one critical injury. >> that's correct. we have had two critical injuries at this time. one was possib a jumper. we're still gathering all the information from witnesses here.

it will be an y going investigation. >> reporter: thank you so much for joining us. as you heard there, it is an yon going investigation. still looking to everything that's caused this situation. and difficulty for folks who tried to get out of this fire. tracee wilkins, live this morning in northwest. back to you all in the studio. >> tracee, thank you for the update. police are looking for suspects after a deadly shooting yesterday. it left several cars riddled with bullets and one flipped over. the home is one block from where a man was taken into custody not long after the shooting. his status is not known. earlier, around 12:30 p.m., chaos enveloped u street northwest, one the busiest commercial areas in the city. as mourners were leaving walker memorial btist church for the funeral of 21-year-old mccray, another shooting happened near the cars lined up to participate in the funeral procession.

a car pulled up and opened fire in an suv with three men inside. it took off down u street, side-swiped two cars, hit a verizon truck. one was killed. the minister who officiated claims coates and the victims had not been inside the church for service. right now former president jimmy carter is still at a cleveland hospital, enclose doctors say it is purely precaution year. president carter began experiencing stomach pains when he was flying to cleveland to promote his new book yesterday. today he is expected to be here in washington a hold a book signing at politics and pros. barack obama will wrap up his four state campaign today. he will hold a backyard discussion with voters in des moinesiowa this morng before going to richmond, virginia. democrats are idanger of losing control of the house and senate. tracie potts is live on capitol hill with the details. good morning. >> reporter: democrats say buck up. he's trying to reenergize the

party with political tough love. >> i don't know abo you, but i'm fired up. >> reporter: president obama is telling democrats ignore polls and pundits. >> we cannot sit this one out. we can't let this country fall backwards because the rest of us didn't re enough to fight. >> reporter: in interviews, he's even tougher. he told rolling store democrats sitting on their hands complaining are irresponsible. republicans and even some decrats say beating up the base may backfire. >> you're out there trying to tear phi them and put all these scare tactics out there and hope fear will drive them to the polls. >> reporter: mr. obama is on a four-state swing to gain support amid a faltering economy. >> i don't think there's one sector we can put the blame on. >> reporter: in a new nbc/wall street journal poll, the percentage who blame barack obama for economic woes have

almost doubled since june. republicans say they've got moment momentum. expect more heated rhetoric as president obama rallies in iowa and virginia today. and if president obama can't get the memory across apparently there is someone else wo can. the most popular democrat out there campaigning right now, eun, is former president bill clinton. >> tracie potts on capitol hill this morning. tracie, thank you. this morning europe is on high alert after news of a terror plot against britain, france and germany. here's just how on edge authorities are. the eiffel tower has been evacuated twice in two weeks because of bomb threats. al qaeda is thought to be behind the threat which could involve mumbai-style commando attacks. u.s. military is so stepping in. u.s. missile strikes in pakistan recently have beenimed at disrupting the plot. it is 5:08.

68 degrees. it's been necknd neck but it appears one candidate has finally taken the lead in the race for governor of maryland. eyes underground. how techlogy is being used to avoid another giant water main break. there is rain out there.

four years ago, bob ehrlich got fired as governor of maryland. for good reaso first, he protected tax loopholes for giant cable cable companies. then, he let utilities jack up our rates 72%. and for the last four years, he worked as a hiregun for big corporations, even a bank that took billions from a taxpayer funded bailo. ehrlich sides with corporate executives again and again and again

tell bob ehrlich big banks and billionares don't need help. middle cde do.

good morning. weather and traffic on the ones. i'm tom kierein. fresh and cool. partly cloudy. low to mid-50s in the suburbs. rural areas ju near 50. 63 in washington. low 60s near the bay and the eastern shore. 40s in the mountains. increasing clouds. rain likely moving inhis afternoon. heavy at times tonight, into tomorrow likely causing flooding by late tonight and through the morning hours on thursday. rain tapering off and ending tomorrow afternoon. friday, saturday, dry weather returns. near 70 saturday afternoonafter a chill j start in the 40s in the morning. how is the traffic now, jerry? >> nortest washington where the investigation continues. of course 16th street remains closed. we'll show the the parameters. 16th street and irving and 16th street and columbia. don't expect 16th to open any

time soon. american legion bridge, outer loop, inner loop moving along nicely with all travel lanes open. jerry, thank you. 61 degrees. ahead on news 4 today, who really needs the cup of coffee to get them going? we do. plus, where some local students are trading in textbooks for ipads. who is now calling for a major over jaul for the way things are done arlington national cemetery. one of the ♪

[ male nouncer ] it's luxury with fire in its veins. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul. ♪ and that's even before you drop your foot on the pedal. ♪ the new 2011 cts coupe from cadillac. the new standard of theorld.

5:14 is your time now. breaking news out of northwest washington where crews are battling a fire at a eight-ory apartment building. firefighters say as many as 40 people are being treated on the scene. eight people were taken to the hospital, two with critical injuries. we have a crew there and we'll bring you an update at 5:30. police looking for suspects after a deadly shooting in northwest washington. people were leaving a funeral when someone startediring shots at the cars which then crashed. police believe the shooting may have been gang related. were toer president jimmy carter is expected to be in washington today even though h is still at a cleveland hospital this morning. president carter was hospitalized yesterday after experiencing stomach pains on a

flight from atlanta to cleveland. doctors decided to keep him for the night but say it was purely precautionary. president obama will wrap up his four-state campaign tour today. he's trying to rally democrats before november's midterm elections. he will hold a backyard discussion with voters in des moines, iowa before coming back to this area and richmond. democrats are in danger of losing control of the house and senate, many observers say. it has been seen as a maryland political horse race up until now. a new poll shows it was just five weeks until election day. one of the candidates may be pull away. the new washington post poll says governor martin o'malley leads 52% to 41%.

that is a dramatic change. the last "washington post" poll back in may showed they were in a dead heat at 47% each. the latest pole showed ehrlich is leading among independent voters but lacks the bipartisan support that he received back in 2002. president obama has a new radio ad this week. >> maryland, you have a choice in the election this fl, whether you keep moving forward with the hard working leadership of governorartin o'malley or do you slip backwards? in the toughest of times martin o'malley has moved maryland forward. >> it began running in baltimore yesterday and will begin airing in the d.c. market next week. a bipartisan bill would hold arlington national cemetery accountable to congresss it fixes errors in burial records. it requires the army the right pastrrors and reach out to family members of those buried at arlington. it will call for a determination whether the department of

veterans affairs should oversee it instead of the army. a congressional hearing last month revealed 6,600 graves might be mismarked or mislabeled. board members say it would lead to distrust between police and the immigrant comminution. >> has been forced upon us. we never had a say in the matter. no public process. so today we are asking. virginia implemented the program earlier this year. lawmakers on capitol hill say the country needs to act now to prevent future natural gas pipeline explosions.

senators proposed adding manually operated shutoff vves and doubling the number of inspectors after the massive explosion in san bruno, california earlier this month. it killed eight people and destroyed dons of homes. and the cause of that explosion is still unclear. to maryland now. work to install acoustic equipment is now halfway complete. that runs under river road in bethesda. you recall these pictures. crews installed acoustic fiberoptic equipment along 41 iles of the 77 mile long concrete pipe. that will allow the washington suburban sanitary commission to monitor for signs of weakening to avoid another major break. forget textbooks. local students updating to ipads. virginia department of education

will announce the program later this morning. and we are following a developing story in mexico. rescuers are looking for 11 missing people after a huge mud slide in southern mexico. officials there first thought the mud slide buried hundreds of people. as soldiers and rescuers made it to t remote region, they learned it was far less deadly. three adults and eight children are missing. there are no confirmed deaths. stea rain triggered the mudslides washing out roads and bridges. >> sdploo out of haiti where nearly nine months after that huge earthquake, a million people still live in tent cities. one reason is that not one cent of the $1.5 billion that the u.s. promised for rebuilding has arrived in the country the money is still tied up on capitol hill. officials blame bureaucracy, disorganization and a lack of urgency. vre is rolling o two new

trains this morning. t according to the "washington post" the rail service is teing whether its new engines can handle a ten-car load. vre is buying 19 new locomotive engines which will wasps be rolled out in 2012. tom, we have cooler weather. want to know if there's more rain in our forecast? >> yes. tropicamoisture streaming in. off to a dry start. it's cool. low 60s in washington. near the bay. 40s in the mountains. and then by midafternoon we'll have rain likely moving from the south. it will be earlier in the day to the south of us in virginia. likely rain ming in ter this morning. but the metro area, rain moving in. light rain initially in the evening hours.

moderate to heavy rain likely causing flooding. heavy downpours lukely tomorrow morning, through midday. saturday, 40s in the morning. afernoon highs near 70. autumnal cool weather continues. dry sunday, monday, tuesday. off we go. in town of course as we have been reporting, 16th street remains closed because of the building fire investigation. georgia avenue is right now a very viable alternative for you. let's head over and see if there's anything to worry about on 395. not a thing to worry about. that is a good thing. landmark shirleyly ton. right now all travel lanes are open for you. we're looking good out on the rails so far. vre and marktarting off in

fine form. from the bedroom to the courtroom. a maryland couple suing over bedbu. plus, coffee drinkers today is your day but who really needs a cup of joe. why an ad for bristol

bristol palin could be in trouble for being at a downtown anchorage bar while her "dancing with the stars" partner performed. bristol is only 19. she could only legally be in the bar with a parent, spouse, or legal guardian over the age of 21. no word on what sort of penalty she could face if the investigator determined she did something wrong. good news caffeine lovers. today is, yes, national coffee today. according to a new survey, that's what keeps many of us going all day long. dunkin' donuts and care careerbuilder.com say 32% say they need coffee to get through the weekday. who needs it the most? nurses tops the profession with the most coffee drinkers. physicians came i second, followed by hotel workers. government workers came in 12th on the list. interestingly enough, early "morning news" annors did not

make the list. mainly we survive on doughnuts and cheetos. >> and the big gallons of coffee we need to drink when you get up at 2:00 in the morning, yes. all right. interesting. 5:26. 59 degrees ahead at 5:30, the very latest on the terror threat in europe targeting an iconic structure. plus, why the maker of the plane involved in that sparking landing is now under fire for other incidents. and next, an update on the breaking news. dozens of people being treated instrumental music ]

[ instrumental music ] equals chili's $20 dinner for two. share one of five appetizers, like our famous texas cheese fries. then choose two freshly prepared entrees from 14 chili's favorites, like our chicken crispers with new sweet & smoky sauce,

our new slow-smoked honey chipotle baby back ribs, or grilled all-white meat chicken fajitas served over a bed of sizzling peppers and onions. grab a friend and get one appetizer plus two entrees with chili's $20 dinner for two. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's a universal gesture... ♪ a way of telling the rld "you did it!"...

without saying a word. introducing the mercedes-benz sls...amg. [ engine revs ] ♪ the best or nothing... that is what drives us. breang news right now. several people rushed to the hospital after a high-rise apartment building fire. an iconic structure targeted. al qaeda is believed to be involved. u street shooting. a terrifying act of violence in the middle of the day. good morning. i'm eun yang. >> good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. wednesday, 29th day of september, 2010. let's take a live look outside right now. no rain.

dry right now here in the nation's capital. 59 brisk degrees out there. but things are going to change. meteorologist tom kiere joins us now. they have changed yoef night. the northwest wind came in. it is now a fresh and cool morning. crickets are chirping a little slower this morning. only in the 40s in the mountains. 63 in washington. low to mid-60s around tidewater, the bay, and the eastern shore. in the mountains, yes, only in the 40s in many locations. over the last 12 hours we have had high clouds screaming back in. tropical moisture pushing into southern virginia. light rain. moderate downpours in eastern north carolina. some of that will be arrivg late this afternoon. moderate to heavy rain through midday thursday likely causing flooding. dry after that. jerry, how is the traffic. >> a live look at th hour on

interstate 66 where we are certainly loading up very, very quickly as the rush hour picks upace. already beginning to slow down just a little bit. we may have something going on. that was moving better 45 seconds ago. wilson bridge, once you get o bridge span you're okay. report of a vehicle stopped inner loop arod route 210. but that should be out by now. out to the rails we go. doing wel metro, vre and mark, no thas. we are continue to following breaking news in northwest washington where dozens of people are being treated right now after a fire at a high-rise apartment building. news 4 tacee wilkins is on the scene with the latest on what appears to be an arson? >> reporter: they don't want to say exactly how this fire

started until they're able to bring in dogs and actually see if there was an act sell rant. this was an unusual location for fire. we had original reports that it looked like trash or something was set on fire if a hallway just outside the fifth floor stairwell. that's what made it difficult for some folks to get out of the building. firefighters still on the scene. you can see their ladders fr where they had to actually climb to rescue some people. some folks ran out of the building on their own to sety. and from what fire officials are saying, they may have actually run through t fire. that caused serious injury. here's what we know about injuries. 40 folks are being aluated on the scene. eight transported. five to the burn center. two to george washington hospital. one child taken to children's hospital. there was also a jumper in the fire who is now in critical

condition. here's what fire officials had to say about injuries. another big story we are all over this morning. the violent scene outside a funeral u street, northwest washington. the search is still on for suspects after the shooting that left one person dead and two others wounded. news 4's jackie benson reports.

>> reporter: detectives investigating served a search warrant in the 1200 block of girard street. they appeared paper evidence and a shotgun case. a police crane towed a tan-colored sedan. a vehicle that fits the description that witnesses say fleed the scene. the home is one block from where a man s taken into custody not long after the shooting. his status is not known. earlier, around 12:30 p.m., chaos enveloped u street northwest, one of the busiest commercial areas in the city. as mourners were leaving walker memorial baptist church for the funeral of 21-year-old ashley mccray, shot to death last week in washington, another shooting happened near the cars lined up to participate in the neral procession. a car pulled up and opened fire

in an suv with three men inside. it took off down u street, side-swiped two cars, hit a verizon truck and flipped. one was killed. jamal coates. the minister who officiated claims coates and the victims had not been inside the church for service. >> two separate incidents. and i want it to be known. >> reporter: at least one car parked nearby had a bullet hole through its windshield. several others were side-swiped. business owners were concerned that the newly revitalized area might btarnished at least temporarily by its own retation for violence. officials tell us there were five police oicers in cruisers proving security at the funeral, but the shooting happened a couple blocks away. jackie benton, news 4 today. this is thehird shooting following a funeral in the district in just the last year.

prosecutors say the man behind the drive-by originally planned to attack the actual funeral but later settled on the stoop where mourners gathered. that was in southeast. right now former president jimmy carter is still at a cleveland hospital, enclose doctors say it is purely precautionary. president carter began experiencing stomach pains when he was flying to cleveland t promote his new book yesterday. today he is expected to be here in washington and hold a book signing at politics and pros. this morning europe is on high alert after news of a terror plot against britain, france and germany.

here's just how on edge authorities are. the eiffel tower has been evacuated twice in two weeks because of bomb threats. al qaeda is thought to be behind the threat which could involve mumbai-style commando attacks u.s. military is alsotepping in. u.s. missile strikes in pakistan recently havbeen aimed at disrupting the plot. the company that makes the airplane that makes the airplane that landed at jfk airport last weekend has experienced three other emergency landings because of landing gear problems. >> stay down, stay down, stay down. >> a passenger caught this video on a cell phone of sparks flyg. the aircraft has had three incidents of landing gear problems in each of the past three years. the company says the planes have

tens of millions of safe landings every year. a howard county couple is suing their landlord over a b bedbug infestation. the browns say building managers were supposed to ex terminate their apartment as a precaution after a neighbor's unit was treated for bedbugs but that never happened. according to the suit, the couple and their 3-year-old daughter suffered red, itchy welts from bedbugs bites as well as emotial trauma. they threw away most of their possessions and moved in with relatives. 5:38. amtrak has big plans. $117 billion proposal that could change the way you travel. who appears to have a sizable lead in the race for governor in maryland.

up next, blue diamond almonds! more bold flavor! more variety! more value! more of what you want... not what you don't. blue diamond almonds. (play-by-play announcer) it up and it is... good! more than a snack.

good morning. time for weather and traffic on the ones early this wednesday morning at 5:41. we have a partly cloudy sky. it's fresh and cool. 1:20 away from sunrise. the bright spot in the western sky is jupiter. off to our west, only in the 40s toear 50 degrees in the mountains of western maryland, shenandoah valley.

blue ridge east, generally in the 50s. highs today around the region, low 70s. increasing clouds. rain likely arriving this afternoon. overnight tonight intoomorrow morning could be heavy at times, enough to cause flooding. sunshine returns friday and saturday, turning cooler. a look at that in ten minutes. clear, dry road surfaces. i do see flashing lights here mid span 14th street bridge. looks like the lanes are open. 16th street remains closed. 14th street or georgia avenue as the alternat says the investigation continues from the fire. >> jerry, thanks. 5:42. still ahead, thrown out with the trash. turns out this little dog is one tough cookie. who symptom pelled upon him and saved his life? >> a subject he knows all too well. the political risk of reforming schools.

my dad is the supervisor of a train station and my mom's a tcher. my dad's an auto technician. my mom's a receptionist. i'm not sure i would have been able to afford college without the tuition freeze. while tuition in other states is rising out of reach... governor'malley made the tough choice to freeze tuition. he made my dream of going to college into a reality. i'm the first in my family to go to college. my brother and i never would have been able to afford college. even though times were tough... governor o'malley kept his promise. there's never a doubt... there's never a doubt whose side he's on. martin o'malley... moving maryland rward.

5:45. breaking news out of northwest washington where a fire is involved in an eight-story apartment bmpth ffts say as many as 40 people had to be treated at the scene. eight people taken to the hospital, two with critical injuries. we have a news crew there. we'll bring you a live update at 6:00 a.m. police are still looking for suspects after a deadly shooting on u street in northwest washington. a group of people were leaving a funeral when meone started firing shots at one of the vehicles, which then crashed. police believe the shooting may have been gang related. former president jimmy carter is stillexpected to be in washington today even though he's spending the night in a cleveland hospital.

president scatterer was opted yesterday after experiencing stmach pains on a flight from atlanta to cleveland. doctors say it was purely precautionary. a suspected terror plot uncovered in europe. police ended up finding nothing spibs. at the same time british intelligence officials announced they had intercepted a credible terror pl against france and britain. al qaeda is tught to be connected to the threats. this morning a dramatic change in the race for maryland governor. a new poll outhis morning shows that one of the candidates w has a sizable lead, a big change from a few weeks ago when they were in a dead heat. >> reporter: we're talking about the incumbent marty o'malley. montgomery county is the state's

largest jurisdiction. and marlin o'malley based some of the commercials here. meantime, pob ehrlich kicked off his campaign here. he's made several visits to montgomery county. now a little her than a month left to go 5, 2% of likely voters say they will vote for martin owe mole, while 41% backer lick. the numbers were evenly divided back in may. both have the support of their party's voters. but democrats energized behind martin o'malley. meantime, republican and former governor ehrlich has most of the state's independent voters but not enough of them to make a difference. no montgomery county, he only attrac attracts 27% of the while. the state's economy, followed by taxine

taxes,. back to you. >> elaine, thank you. and governor o'malley is hoping an endorsement from the white house will boost his appeal. i've seen martin work. i know he made tough decisions to put safety and job creation first. stand with me, barack obama, in moving maryland forward with my friend martin o'lley. >> the ad began run anything baltimore yesterday and will start airing in the d.c. area next week. president obama will wrap up his four-stain four-state campaign tour. he will hold a backyard discussion with voters in des moines, iowa this morning before going to richmond, virginia. democrats are in danger of losing control of the house and senate.

>> we cannot sit this one out. we can't let this country fall backwards because the rest of us didn't care enough to fight. barack obama will wrap up his four state campaign today. he will hold a backyard discussion with voters in des moines, iowa this morning before going to richmond, virginia. what mayor fenty says about the political risk of reforming schools. he sksz what's next for the two of them. >> well, she has her own personal decision to make. but i n tell you what, both of us have seen enormous progress able to be made at the local level. and both of us are going to stay involved. we're probabl going to be just as much agitators from the outside as we've been from the

inside. because we've got -- thisight is nowhere near over. >> fenty also criticized teachers union for getting in the way of progress. the discsion is part of our week long series in the state of the nation of our schools. and vincent gray wantso hear from district residents bere the november election. throughout the month of october, he will host town hall meetin in each of the city's eight wards. he wants to talk to citizens about the issues that matter most to them. colu bey heights youth center. >> even with texting bans in effect, more and more americans are stl sending messages from behind the wheel. a study krood at crash data in several states with texting bans. it found that in most the number of crashes actually increased. u.s. transportation secretary ray lahood called the report

misleading. he said bans are important in helping distracted drives. but people must obey them. if you want to get outside and enjoy some dry weather, now is the time to do it because thgs are going to change, right, tom? >> yeah. dry, cool start but you'll need an umbrella. rain moving up from the south. tropical moisture streaming in. right now it's try and cool around the region. low to mid-50s throughout most of the area. thanks for checking in, weather watchers. low 60s in washington near the chesapeake bay. prince george's, arlington, fair fox, montgomery counties, low 50s. west virginia, mountains, many locations in the upper 40s. eastern shore and southeastern around tidewater, temperatures in the 60s to near 70. they're getng rain already. we have very strong upper level winds moving 75, 80 miles per hour, streaming moisture up from the south.

it's beginning to move up from a developing tropical system. this is right now sitting right over cuba. but the winds ahead of that system are streaming moisture up into the carolas and coming into southern virginia. this could become tropical storm nicole later today. all this moisture could certainly bring us more rain. for the morning hours it's going to be a cool morning with some sunsne. sunrise is a little pst 7:00 this morning. and then by noon time, thickening clouds in the low 70s. rain likely developing mid to late afternoon. light rain initially. overnight tonight, moderate rain through the evening and heavy rain after midnight. flooding likely. maybe thunder and lightning. and then tomorrow afternoon that rain should taper off and i setting the stage for a dry and cooler weekend. sunny, saturday afternoon. upper 60s to near 70s.

partly cloudy and cool weather. 40s in the morning. check weather any time on cable. a lite bit of volume. that's the story along the 270 corridor. doing fine so far. clear, dry pavement. so enjoy it while you can. we're looking good all the way down to the split so far. in the district, of course we have been reporting 16th street remains closed generally between this intersection of irving street down toward column pia road northwest. fire department at scene. the investigation continues into the building fire. so give yourself a little extra time. georgia avenue good idea. pretty good morning so far. metro, vre and mark -- i'm sorry pen line 503 a little delay. other than that, ju fine. vre is rolling out two new

ten-car trains. the second will depart union station at4:40 p.m. according to the "washington post" the rail system is seeing whether thecan handle ten-car trains. vre is buying 19 new locomotive engines which will wasps be rolled out in 2012. costing about $77 million. amtrak revealed its vision for east coast rail travel and it's high-speed. amtrak unveiled plans for a high-speed rail system yesterday, 30-year, $117 billion proposal would drastically reduce travel times along the congested east coast corridor. they want to produce travel time from washington, d.c. to new york city from 162 minutes to 96 minutes. it admits the proposal is in the visionary staple andas no funding inplace. >> hour and a half to new york stickers that's visionary. one dog now has a second

chance at life thanks to someone who just happened beyond him. john ip inhas the story. >> reporter: at ten pounds, thomas, 6-year-old poodle m, is half the size he's supposed to be. his playful attitude and upbeat spirit can't mask his shocking condition now visible at the washington humane society rescued him and shaved away his discolored hair. >> he was extremely matted. he had mats all over his body. he's obviously underweight. he does have ear infections in both ears. >> reporter: the humane society says he's lucky to be alive. he was found next to a dumpster here in southeast sometime monday morning. it wasn't his barking that was heard. a maintenance worker noticed a suspicious cage. it's not clear who dumped him or how long he was sitting in a crate covered by a bnket but officer jennifer gardener can't belive a human being would do this to an animal.

>> the crate was lthy. d probably weeks's worth of urine and feces inside the crate. no food. no water. just really filthy. >> reporter: the washington huma society is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. but they're hoping the story will teach pet owners there are other options outhere. >> if you can't take care of your dog, you can always surrendeto the shelter. we're open 24 hours a day, 7 days a ek. so it's just inexcusable to throw your dog out with the trash. >> reporter: thomas is recovering, eating steady mes and enjoying the company of others. he's not ready to be adopted yet. but in two weeks, once he gets his weight up and is cleared by the doctors, the washington humane society hopes to find thomas a good hom two men suspected of stealing a mini van were caught by police after one of them wad to a police officer. they were both arrested and charged with grand larceny any.

the two drove by movie co.theater and waved at a detective in uniform who was working security detail. the dective, who knew the driver to be a gang member, ran thelates for the van through a computer database and discovered that it was stolen. police caught up with the vehicle a short time later and arrested both men inside. >> friendly is one word. where students are ditching textbooks in exchange for ipads. at least 40 people being treated fornjuries from a high-rise apartmentire in northwest washington. live look outside right now. 63 degrees. we'll have weather and traffic together on the ones coming up next at 6:00 a.m. stay with us.